During
a ceremony at the residence of Mr. Jean Berthault, incharge of Afghanistan
affairs at French Embassy in Islamabad, and in presence of Mr Yannick Gerard French
Ambassador in Pakistan and Mr Olivier Plançon First Secretary of
the Embassy and some journalists and RAWA activists, "The French Republic's
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity Human Rights Prize" endowed by the Prime
Minister of the French Government through National Advisory Commission
on Human Rights was granted to RAWA for its activities for human rights
in Afghanistan. It is almost the first time that a country in the West
paid attention to a democratic organization in Afghanistan.

On
behalf of RAWA, Mother Zemaray, a bereaved woman whose eight sons have
been kidnapped and killed at the hands of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar received
the prize. While taking the prize, with tears in her eyes, she said " expressing
my heartfelt thanks to the French government and nation, I hope that France
prosecute Gulbuddin and other Jehadic and the Taliban leaders as the murderers
of our people". "Though RAWA is given the prize, but till the murderers
of my sons and the butchers of my nation have not been brought to justice
I will not be satisfied. All those who lost their lives by inhuman fundamentalists
are my sons" she continued.

Awarding the prize, Mr. Jean Berthault said: "This is very important because
the medal that is going to be given to you is coming from the Committee
for the Human Rights that is composed of very important people. RAWA got
a special mention with medal in order to illustrate the importance of its
action. The work of RAWA is extremely important because nowadays in Afghanistan
we are in a situation where the women are deprived of any access to education,
health and so on. In the last twenty-two years we have been witnessing
a terrible war in Afghanistan and the result of this war has been that
the field of education particularly has been entirely destroyed. Every
body knows and acknowledges the importance of women in order to promote
the future generation, and this is the main reason why RAWA has been given
this award. Today is also an occasion for my government that I represent
in Afghanistan, to illustrate the importance that we attach to your country,
to your dear country, also to peace in Afghanistan for which we are really
trying and doing our best. I promise you." He concluded "In the territories
of the Taliban as well as that of other forces the situation is not good."

Afterwards, an activist of RAWA on behalf of her organization pointed out
"it is a fine opportunity for RAWA to share the cry of thousands of mournful
and bleeding Afghan women with the world. Women who are being crushed by
the most savage regime of our day, a regime which is striking our desperate
women mentally and physically with such blows without example either during
the Russian invasion or at any time in the past. Human rights and women's
rights in particular have been violated at different levels by different
regimes. However, in today's ill-fated Afghanistan there is not a single
trace of human rights and women's rights but a distant memory in the past
eight years.

The
shameless brothers of the Taliban and Jehadis in Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Iran
and Algeria have even trembled a bit because of what the Afghan fundamentalists
have done and are doing to women. Where has it been seen that while shouting
Allah-o-Akbar they rape 70-year-old mothers and fathers and 7-year-old
girls? Where has it been seen that after raping pregnant women, the armed-Islamic
warlords wait before the traumatized woman for the delivery of "their"
babies? Who has seen that hundreds of young girls are committing suicide
as their only hope of safety from abduction and raping by fundamentalists?
And…

English translation of
a letter from Mr. Laurent Fabius to RAWA

RÉPUBLIQUE
FRANÇEASSEMBLÉE
NATIONALE

LE PRÉSIDENT
PARIS, LE 29 Nov. 1999

The National Advisory Commission on Human Rights has decided to nominate your organization among its laureates for the year 1999.

This distinction is to reward your concrete, necessary and courageous action in Pakistan.

In letter, I want to congratulate you warmly.

More than 200 years after their recognition by the National Assembly and 50 years after their worldwide exclamation, Human Rights - or, later, the respect of Human Rights remain the indispensable yardstick of all human progress. The fight goes on as the task is far from complete.

This is why I hope that, in future, we shall be able to go further with this just cause.

I wish to encourage you to get in touch with my adviser Cyril Benoit whom I have asked to deal with this matter. If you so desire he will be in a position to listen to you and help you in your initiative.

Again all my congratulations.

Yours sincerely,
Laurent Fabius

There is no time to point out each and every atrocity of the Taliban and
Jehadic warlords; but it is enough that the world knows that 99% of our
women are bereaved. Our hearts are stained with the remorse of humiliation
and insults against us; lashing us publicly, bleeding us white, and snatching
us away from our lands and men and dragging us into beggary and prostitution."

"The
UN-imposed economic sanctions on Afghanistan are yet another crushing burden
on the shoulders of our misery-stricken nation and the only group or individuals
the sanctions will not have the slightest negative impact on will be the
Taliban, who are so affluent in dollars and rupees gained from narcotic
smuggling that they will never be humbled by any such misguided efforts.
The picture gets darker when we see their rival brothers, the Jehadis,
are exempted from the sanctions. The criminal acts of the latter have even
in some ways whitewashed the face of the Taliban. Do the UN and the West
want to replace the Taliban and impose the Jehadics on our people? If the
UN or the West is really interested in solving the problems of Afghanistan,
they must first and foremost impose strict sanctions on the countries that
continue to support the Taliban and their Jehadic rivals with arms and
money " she concluded.

It
is clear cut that time and again the international prizes, under the name
of human rights and democracy, have been given to the known agents of KHAD
and to women who know nothing about the sorrows and aspirations of the
Afghan women; they are just trying to reconcile with the Jehadic and the
Taliban thugs.

Though
RAWA has been granted the prize, but the miseries and sufferings of the
Afghan people and women are as much deep and wide-ranged that such prizes
could never alleviate them. Our sufferings inter alia, get harsh when we
are witnessing that the world media don't give considerable coverage to
the horrible plight of Afghan women.

The
medieval-minded and women-bashing fundamentalists regard the human rights
and democratic values nothing but the products of the West and contrary
to the tradition and culture of Afghanistan. We strongly demand France
to deal with the Afghan fundamentalists without giving any of them her
recognition or any assistance and put pressure on the UN to impose sanctions
not only on the Taliban, but on the Jehadic traitors as well. By doing
that, it means France grants the greatest "prize" not only to RAWA but
to the people of Afghanistan as a whole.

Does
the dedication of this prize to RAWA, which has been struggling for almost
20 years for democracy and human rights, indicate that France will be the
first country, which will raise its voice for democracy and human rights
in Afghanistan? We hope it will be so. This is the desire of each and every
misfortunate Afghan.